SouthState Corp Buys 3,031 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

SouthState Corp increased its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 10.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,942 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,031 shares during the quarter. SouthState Corp’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $4,640,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 6.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,769,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,740,149,000 after buying an additional 7,636,547 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the first quarter worth $767,506,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 21.2% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 17,056,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,990,030,000 after buying an additional 2,989,122 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter worth $343,236,000. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 99.9% in the first quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 3,111,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $363,075,000 after buying an additional 1,555,015 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $122.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $168.23.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $165.20 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $263.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $94.33 and a 12 month high of $167.13. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $157.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $142.44.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.73. The firm had revenue of $18.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 16.55% and a net margin of 13.85%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.88 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.03%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CEO Edward Pick sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.34, for a total transaction of $16,434,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 574,986 shares in the company, valued at approximately $94,493,199.24. This trade represents a 14.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

Morgan Stanley, a financial holding company, provides various financial products and services to corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. It operates through Institutional Securities, Wealth Management, and Investment Management segments.